ThatTheyMayKnow - Church Planting

Notes from My Journal 01-27-2012

Matt Allen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:10:50 UT

Instant gratification has an equal and opposite reaction—instant boredom.

We live in the most entertained generation of history—yet the most bored generation. How does that work? The rest of the world dreams of these opportunities and our generation squanders these same opportunities in boredom. Instant gratification has an equal and opposite reaction—instant boredom.

The hearts of men and women yearn to fantasize about the epic—romantic movies and fictional books; epic war movies, D-Day invasions that have been dressed up to feature the survivors; and yet, these same men and women eat Doritos™, while sitting on a plush leather couch and surfing both the internet and cable TV at the same time (and possibly DVR-ing another show, because they don’t want to miss something).

Well, there is an epic battle raging—it has been for millennia. It’s the battle for the souls of men. Why not jump in and join this battle? The King of kings has commissioned you, Christian friend, for this fight. Depending on your performance, He may choose to allow you to lead in the fight.

Quit fantasizing about the epic—join in the fight and live out the epic!

Prelude to 2012 Pastors' Conference

John Allen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:55:18 UT

Papua Niugini: Our flag and our country

With the Pastors’ Conference just two days away, plenty of activity is happening at Kotidanga Baptist Church—including starting the meeting early!

Tags: Pastors' conference, preaching, special meetings

Don't Forget My People"

John Allen — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:57:30 UT

On the west side of our Kamea people lives another people known as the Tewata or Tainae. Their numbers are much smaller than the Kamea, perhaps numbering only around 1,000. They live in a few villages in a very isolated area, without an airstrip, an aid post, or any development. We know them because they hike a full hard day to come to us for health care.

My wife has ministered to many Tewata peoples’ health needs. Most that we meet come from a village called Pangoni (Pan-go-nee).

Andrew is their spokesman and representative. He speaks some English and can write in Pidgin. Somewhere along the way he heard the Gospel and trusted Christ as his Savior, and has a good testimony of it. He never asks for anything; well, nothing, except for a missionary. He knew a missionary would bring some medical help to his people; but more than that, he wanted us to plant a church there so that the Gospel could be preached to his people and they could learn for themselves what God said in His Word. Andrew was responsible for some of his own people coming to Christ, but he wanted help.

On every visit to us, Andrew always had a warm handshake and time for a story. I enjoyed seeing him come. And our parting always ended like the same. “Brother John,” Andrew would say, holding my hand and looking into my eyes, “Don’t forget my people.”

“Don’t Forget My People”

It was the same when I last saw him before I came home on furlough. “Don’t forget my people. Tell your people in America that we need a missionary to come live with us, to learn our language and tell us about Jesus. Don’t forget my people.”

Yesterday I met with two new PNG missionaries, and we did talk of Andrew’s people. I also shared it with their pastor.

Two hours later I got word from my son Matt: Andrew was dead.

Andrew suffered with chronic breathing problems, as many of our people do. He had just received medicine a day before, and seemed to be all right. But in the night, he had a breathing attack. His last words to those with him were, “Take me, Jesus.”

John & Andrew from Pangoni

I write you this story to fulfill my promise to my friend Andrew. I won’t forget his people. Friends, they need a missionary among the isolated Tewata/Tainae people. They have no spokesman now. Open the attached picture of me and my friend Andrew. And then, will you pray “the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest” among the Tewata/Tainae people?

Will you consider going yourself?

Look at Andrew in the picture, and hear him say, “Don’t forget my people.”

Tags: Andrew, church planting, healthcare, need for missionaries

PHOTO ALBUM: SPECIAL MEETINGS & VISITORS 2010

John Allen — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 19:29:03 UT

Tags: construction, devotions, preaching, salvation, visitors, youth

Aminawa

John Allen — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:49:15 UT

In the last several years, nearly forty villages have requested for someone to come to preach the Gospel here in the Kamea region. It was July 2010 when we visited Aminawa village to survey the opportunity there.

There was a small group who desired for us to begin a ministry among them. In August 2010, Andrew Schellenberger and I began teaching chronologically through the Bible with a group that steadily grew to average about 70 people. Using Old Testament stories as a basis, we began sharing with them truths that are essential to come to God. God’s creation story in Genesis 1-2, Satan’s fall and where evil spirits come from, moving on to the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham and the Hebrew patriarchs.

The new church plant in Aminawa is growing!

The people learned from the Scripture that God loves them and cares for them; hence, He created the world and supplies their needs. They learned that Satan is a deceiver and a liar. They learned from the very first disobedience by man in the Garden of Eden, that the wages of sin is death, and that a blood sacrifice is needed to atone for sin.

Subsequent lessons have shown that these principles hold true throughout God’s Word. Many of these stories are pictures of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ for our sins, and the people have begun to understand.

Andrew and John preparing for the day’s teaching at Aminawa

We first gave a clear Gospel presentation in November 2010, showing that Jesus Christ is the true sacrifice for our sins. Connecting the death, burial and resurrection of Christ to the Old Testament stories helped some of these dear friends understand what Jesus did for them. Since that time, about two dozen men, women, and children have professed faith in Christ and begun to walk with Him.

Pray with us that as the Aminawa ministry continues to grow, many more Kamea people will come to put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation. God is doing a work here!

Tags: Aminawa, chronological bible teaching, church planting, gospel, salvation

Scenes from the Kamea Region 2011

John Allen — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 20:11:46 UT

These are some photos of our area in the mountains of Gulf, including both people and places.

Tags: 206, aircraft, airplane, Cessna, Kamea, Kunai, mountains

Thirty Miracles

Andrew Schellenberger — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:00:08 UT

“But ye are a chosen generation…a peculiar people…that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” Truly salvation is a miracle!

It has been amazing to see God work miracles in lives here in Papua New Guinea—yes, miracles! I have just returned from the States after going back for a couple weeks to obtain my one-year visa. Last week, the week of my return to PNG, I had another exciting time seeing the Lord work—one I thank God for. I got back into PNG last Tuesday and on Thursday Brother Matt flew me, Pastor James’ wife Keresa and son Caleb to Kamina. Kamina is a village with an airstrip about a five minute flight away from the existing airstrip. From Kamina we hiked an hour to Wawa where Sino, one of Matt’s Bible-school graduates, is pastoring a church (Wawa Baptist Fellowship). Pastor James and Jorim—another preacher from Kotidanga, had hiked the 6 hours to Wawa the day before we flew in. They missed the 5 minute flight in with us, but Matt was able to give them a ride back at the end of the meetings. Pastor Sino had special meetings planned for Wednesday through Sunday, and he had invited Brother Matt, Jorim, and Pastor James to speak during the meetings, so we planned on staying until Sunday morning.

Sino and Lisa wave from the front porch of their house. Sino always gives a BIG grin!

It was a great time spending the four nights in Sino’s bush house and sitting in on the preaching services during the day. For a good while I had been looking forward to being at this meeting because back in June, when I first arrived in PNG, Sino had invited me to come. I was able to get to know Sino on my first long hike in PNG—a 6-hour hike to a village named Ania. For some reason Sino just decided to stick next to me on the hike; but I think it was more like he decided to wait for me and help me along the way since hiking in the jungle is not my forte. He, too, gave me some of my first good lessons in Tok Pisin on that hike—I really appreciated his heart. From the little Pisin that I picked up from his speaking while on the hike, I did understand that he was planning an evangelistic meeting in the next year. Well, the time came; and thank the Lord, I made it back from the States in time to go to Sino’s meetings.

Under the green tarp, the people gathered at Wawa Baptist Church.

Now when I say meetings, I mean meetings! They had four services every day: two in the morning from 8:30-11:30 and two in the afternoon from 2:00-4:30. That is 2 ½ to 3 hours sitting on the ground. I don’t know how the people sit for so long without their legs falling asleep! Well, that is besides the point: sitting there and enduring the little discomfort was well worth the instruction and conviction that the preaching brought. By Friday, 9 people had come to Christ; but Sino was praying for more. Well, the Lord was working. In the Saturday morning services, 10 more souls were saved, and by Saturday night the total was at 30! Praise the Lord!
Talking to Brother Matt afterwards, he told me how much of a blessing it was to see Sino’s leadership in the church and also to see his burden for lost souls.

During the three days of meetings, it seemed that a pervading theme throughout the messages was “Are You Ready?”—ready to die, or ready for Christ to come back. The Gospel was presented very clearly in every message and now at least 30 more precious souls are “ready” to meet their Savior. It takes the miracle of salvation to prepare us to meet our Maker, and what a miracle it is! Christ takes the sinner when he is nothing and makes him something. One of my favorite verses that explains this is 1Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”. Truly salvation is a miracle!

Please pray that these new believers will become faithful growing members of Wawa Baptist Fellowship, and too, that these 30 miracles will continue to be an encouragement to Sino as he labors for Christ.
—
Only by Christ,
Andrew Schellenberger
2 Cor.5:21 “…made him to be sin for us…”

How Can A Man Be Born When He Is Old?

John Allen — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:55:10 UT

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? (John 3:4)

Manus Hapuyo

It was a busy morning. Two construction projects were starting at the same time, side by side. These sort of things always draw a crowd to watch, and today was no exception.

Manus Hapuyo, one of our landowners, had decided today that he was going to sit in the bush hut clinic, and regardless of the mission rules, he was going to chew betelnut and smoke his home-rolled cigarette while he watched the construction. So he sat on the bench in the clinic, took his cigarette from behind his ear and put it on the bench. Suddenly, his vision went black, and he fell to the ground!

I need to get right with God NOW!

One of our men, Gideon, was nearby, and he rushed to get some water for Manus to drink. When he returned, Manus said, “I’m fine now. God must have done that to get my attention. I need to get right with God NOW!”

First, he headed home quickly to get rid of his betelnut and his smokes. He told his son, Konos, what had happened.

Konos had witnessed to his father many times, and many of those times Manus refused to listen. “You’re just a child (Konos is 20). I watched you be born and grow up. Don’t tell me about such things. I don’t want to hear it.”

This time was different. As Manus told of being blinded, Konos told his father about the Apostle Paul. Paul had been blinded on the road to Damascus; before that, Paul had refused to hear God’s Word. Manus immediately made the connection. “I believe God did that to me to get my attention. Many times you have tried to tell me the “good news,” but I have not listened. Many of your church people and the missionaries have told me about Jesus Christ, but I wouldn’t hear it. Many, many times, you all have invited me to visit your church services, but I refused to go. I ran away to my jungle garden instead. But in my heart, I have been convicted that what you say is true. God’s Word has shot my liver [a local expression for deep conviction of sin].”

Konos took his father to see Pastor James Naudi, who had already been told of what had happened to Manus. After showing him how he could know the free pardon from sin through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, Manus Hapuyo, the oldest of our landowners at Kunai, became a new babe in Christ!

Are you weary in praying for the conversion of a loved one? Manus has been at the top of the prayer lists of most of our people for several years. We see him daily, love him, and witness to him as the door is open. Behind the scenes, God has been working in his heart…and today, August 30, 2010, we heard with our own ears of the work God has been doing to bring Manus to himself. Friend, “let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not”! (Galatians 6:9)

New Numbers, Stripes and Logo!

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:48:58 UT

On Thursday, March 4, 2010, we received official permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of PNG that allows us to fly the Cessna 206 in Papua New Guinea! An Airworthiness Certificate was granted, along with a Registration Certificate, and they also approved our Flight Manual. Many people in the aviation industry in PNG helped us get our paperwork in order, especially SIL-PNG (Summer Institute of Linguistics) who has also graciously agreed to perform our maintenance and routine inspections on the aircraft. Special thanks to the SIL guys as well as the Civil Aviation guys that helped make it all come together over the last six weeks.

An airplane…a hangar…an almost-completed runway…just four years ago, it was all a dream. Thank all of you that helped make it possible!

We have a flight scheduled to take our national preachers on March 15 to Menyamya for a week-long evangelism outreach to the northern end of the Kamea tribe. Pray that everything works out for that trip; and pray that God will receive honor in this new aspect of ministry transportation.

Observations of Missionary Living: Remind Me to Learn Only ONE New Language at a Time

John Allen — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:56:53 UT

“…where I heard a language that I understood not.” (Psalm 81:5)

When we were students at Baptist Bible Translators Institute, we studied dozens of different languages. From Albanian to Zapotec, we listened to, mimicked, wrote, and analyzed their sound patterns, their tones and their rhythms. Several times, as we were being swamped by learning all the possible stops, fricatives, nasals and affricates, we were calmly assured by our instructors: “But when you get to the field, you only have to learn one language and the sounds associated with that one language.”

So when we moved in among the Kamea, our thought was that we would only have to learn Kamea (an unwritten dialect). Then my son announced that he was leaving on furlough, and that we would be “holding the fort” here until he and his family return in a year or so. Suddenly, Selina and I realized that now we also needed to learn the trade language, Pidgin English, to function outside our tribe.

That Every One May Hear in His Own Language!

Since Pidgin is a written language, largely based on English, we thought, “This won’t be too bad. We can use written Pidgin materials and lessons, and we should be proficient in no time at all.” Famous last words.

I developed study cards for both Kamea and Pidgin. When we flew out for supplies, I bought Pidgin story books to supplement our self-paced Pidgin language course. Only a few of our contacts in the jungle speak English, so we were forced to use Pidgin and Kamea to communicate. Then it happened; we were mixing all three languages! There were days where we seemed to be making some progress, and the sentences, childish as they were, really flowed. The next day, we would slaughter the language so badly that people even cocked their heads like a dog hearing a strange sound for the first time.

Communication is so vital to us in our daily lives, but we take it for granted when we live among those who speak our native tongue. Find yourself placed among those of a “strange speech,” and you long for the ability to communicate your thoughts clearly and powerfully. For any missionary who has to cross language and culture barriers to perform his ministry, there should be a team of prayer warriors back home holding the ropes for him. Few things feel more isolating than an inability to communicate with or to understand what is being said by those around you.

A missionary friend in Hungary reminded me that, “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary:” (Isaiah 50:4) Of course, that’s easy for him to say; he already had learned to speak Russian before beginning his language studies in Hungary!

The truths of God’s Word are the most important things to be communicated. Pray for those who must learn a new language in order to carry on their ministry. It is hard to tell people about the love of God while their heads are cocked at an angle!

Tags: Pidgin